In 1913, Purcell and Elmslie designed a house that remains one of the most significant examples of the Prairie School style of architecture in the United States. Built for Purcell's own family, the house was named for his wife and incorporated his talent for innovative residential planning with Elmslie's ingenious and exacting decorative detail. Their pairing resulted in a progressive design linking the structure to the site. Elmslie's designs for more than eighty leaded-glass windows, elaborate stencil patterns in every room, and custom furniture unified the interior spaces. The house is considered the most complete embodiment of Purcell and Elmslie's architectural philosophy.

Purcell and his family lived in the house for only a few years before relocating to Philadelphia; Purcell later moved to Portland, Oregon. In 1919, the house was sold to Anson B. Cutts Sr., whose son Anson Jr. bequeathed it to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1985. The Institute has returned the house to the period of the Purcells' occupancy (1913-17). Now known as the Purcell-Cutts House, it is open to the public the second weekend of each month and by appointment. For more information and tour registration, please call 612-870-3131.

(For a more thorough treatment of this house, click on Purcell-Cutts House Tour above.)

This large home was built in the Prairie School style by Louis Long, one in a long line of Minneapolis architects and the son of F.B Long of the firm Long and Kees, which designed City Hall. Its symmetry and massing are noticeably different from Purcell's own house, and more closely relate it to the homes of George Washington Maher. next stop >